We caught up with the brilliant and insightful SAFIYA AZAUNCE a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, SAFIYA thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
Personally, I am thrilled to be an artist. That’s basically the same as asking me if I’m happy to be myself. My journey as an artist is so intertwined with my journey of becoming, that it’s kind of impossible to imagine the two as separate. I won’t sugarcoat it for you, there is definitely a tradeoff when it comes to pursuing a creative career. That kind of pursuit will require sacrifice which will vary from person to person. It could be as simple as money or time, but in other cases it could be as drastic as security, stability, or even relationships. In my case, it was security and stability.
The last time I had a regular job was in late 2019 early 2020, right before the pandemic. I was living on a blow up mattress in a shared room with one of my closest friends. We paid something like 600 to 800 for a haphazardly-constructed room in a shared house infested with daddy long legs. One of which greeted me on my bed on the second day living there. But, I woke up every day at 5am, tiptoeing in the dark to a shower with terrible water pressure, so that I could hop on my bike and make my 6am shift at Dave’s Hot Chicken in North Hollywood, California. I would clock in with my lead, we’d put our playlists on the speaker, and we’d bop to the music while preparing all the raw chicken to be made for the lunch rush. What made it all worthwhile was knowing that by 1pm, I’d be on my way home to sit on that blow up mattress next to a spider and its family of five, so I can open up my laptop and write my dreams into existence.
That sacrifice finally paid off when one morning, half way through the shift, I opened an email regarding a follow up to an interview at Will Packer Productions. I nearly knocked over the slurry for the chicken just reading it. However, accepting this opportunity meant that I would have to make ANOTHER sacrifice. I’d be giving up a steady paycheck with a job I could keep as long as I wanted, for a paycheck with a definite end date. Should I take this route, I become responsible for finding the next opportunity, and the next, and the next. This requires three things: taking a leap of faith not many might take, believing in yourself and your ability to succeed, and a sprinkle of delulu (delusion). It didn’t matter that I only had 3 digits in my checking account. It didn’t matter that I’d have to figure out how to make it to Sunset Boulevard every day with no car. That email was enough confirmation for me that this was meant to be part of my journey as an artist. So I took the opportunity and I haven’t had a 9 to 5 job since, nor have I wondered what it would be like to go back to one.
SAFIYA, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Sure, my name is Safiya Dara Azaunce. My pen name is Fiya Dara, and I am a writer. Creative writing has had my heart since childhood. It all started in school, where I’d been getting into trouble with my teachers for not paying attention and daydreaming in class, despite getting good grades. Any opportunity I got, I turned boring academic exercises into creative stories. I realize now that I just had an overactive imagination and I was yet to find the right outlet. My love for writing specifically for the screen began at around age 9, when my mother took me to 826 NYC’s Micro-Movie writing workshop. And I remember being in awe discovering this art form that would allow me to translate the things I daydreamed about onto paper. It was like having a “mind projector.” I wish I could say this discovery changed my daydreaming habits. It did not.
I started taking my screenwriting career seriously in 2018 by pursuing my MFA in Screenwriting at NYFA. My professional screenwriting journey began two years later with my first writer’s assistant role for AllblkTV’s “Lace”, now on Amazon Prime. Currently, I am credited for multiple episodes on the show’s two seasons. However, what I’m most proud of are the projects I’ve led. For example, “Glass” was a short script I wrote while on the job working part time at the YMCA in 2017. It was one of the samples I needed to provide for my grad school application. When I got accepted, I was tasked with directing it for one of my classes. The fear of leading a small team of people alone had my stomach in knots and my heart thumping out of my chest. I didn’t see myself as a leader. I saw myself as an observer. But, I faced the fear and shot the short.
The main thing I want people to know about me is that I’m not only a writer. Writing is my favorite form of art, but I’m drawn to all art forms. I’ve danced, played instruments, sculpted, painted, etc. And I look forward to exploring these other art forms as I go along my journey.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
One of the most important aspects of being a writer is reading. Whether it’s a good or bad script, there is always something you can learn from reading. Had I known about The Script Lab’s library of free downloadable scripts, I would have taken advantage of this resource a lot sooner. Another free resource is The Screenwriting Life with Meg LeFauve and Lorien McKenna. This podcast has made me feel seen as a writer as well as taught me new things long after graduating.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
Three books that have impacted me the most are Shonda Rhimes’ “Year of Yes” as well as Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers”. Outliers definitely made a permanent impact on how I view people and success. Year of Yes also permanently impacted my growth as a person and writer. I no longer let fear play a role in saying yes or no to anything. Another book I loved (and there’s a Netflix series based on it) is Sophia Amaruso’s “Girlboss.” Nasty Gal was my favorite store to shop, so when I discovered there was a book on her journey, I had to have it. Being able to see the value in something where others don’t is an amazing skill and the fact that she took that one skill and created an empire is so impressive to me.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fiyadara/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fiyadara/